Development of a power conditioning circuit for railcar energy harvesting

A power conditioning circuit for an electromagnetic energy harvesting device which is designed to harvest energy from the suspension of a freight train is presented in this paper. The electromagnetic transducer, which converts linear vibrations into electricity, is briefly discussed in this paper. After the output features of the transducer are studied, a buck-boost converter is designed to present a constant 10 ohm load to a three-phase full-wave rectifier. This converter charges a 4-cell LiFePO4 battery pack. The working principles and efficiency of the circuit are analyzed and tested for the application purpose.